Rilla of Ingleside, The Musical- Act one, Scene 2
Rilla flies down the stairs into the Ingleside parlor/kitchen. Susan is working in the kitchen, Nan and Di are helping her, Shirley is lounging on the couch, Walter is scribbling something on paper at the table, Jem is playing with Dog Monday and Anne and Gilbert are sitting at chairs, center stage.
GILBERT: Rilla, come here for a moment please.
RILLA: Yes father?
GILBERT: Your mother and I have decided...
RILLA:...Yes?
GILBERT: Ahem...that you may go to the dance at the light this evening.
RILLA: Oh! Thank you! Thank you! I promise to behave myself and to dress warmly.
ANNE: It was Walter who convinced us. He thought you ought to go dear.
RILLA: Walter you're too good to me! This is the single greatest thing that has ever happened to me. But what will I wear?
NAN: We're walking to the dock, and then rowing over to the lighthouse by boat. I suggest you hurry and get dressed quick so that we're not late meeting up with the crowd from the manse.
RILLA: Yeth, of couthe. Rilla dashes up the stairsMiss Oliver! You'll never guess where I am going!
Everyone gets up and leaves in different directions, except for Anne and Susan.
SUSAN: I do trust your better judgment Mrs. Doctor dear, but I am not altogether certain about allowing Rilla to go to this dance. She's a child yet.
ANNE: Why Susan, Rilla is almost fifteen years old!
SUSAN: Oh I know, but she's always been the baby Mrs. Doctor dear. I don't want her rushing off to parties and dances and whatnot unless she absolutely has to. Cousin Sophia told me once about a girl who dropped dead while dancing at a party over the harbor. "I couldn't wish for no better sign from providence than that" she says. You...You don't think it's true do you?
ANNE: I've never heard of such a story Susan. But Rilla is a healthy young girl and I don't think there's any danger of her dropping dead tonight.
SUSAN: There's a cool breeze blowing off the water and the girls these days are wearing such skimpy dresses. She could catch pneumonia and Lord knows what else.
ANNE: She'll... She'll wear a scarf.
SUSAN: And all the sweet hearting that goes on...I don't believe it's fitting for those little babies and their playmates to gad about hand in hand with those dastardly sheep eyes. No, no, no, it's not proper. What with Jem and Faith-
ANNE: Jem and Faith...Don't be ridiculous... Jem is twenty one and Faith is eighteen. It's hard to believe but, they are young adults now Susan. We have to face the music.
SUSAN: But Rilla is still only a girl we ought to keep her that way for as long as we can
ANNE: I suppose, they all have to leave the nest, or they'll never learn to fly. It is after all, only one party. The events of one party can't take her away from us altogether.
The stage darkens so that there is just one spotlight on Anne.
(song: "THE SANDS OF TIME", featuring: Anne and the children of Rainbow Valley)
ANNE: In this life we are never in the moment
It's only memories of the past, and hopes for what's to come
It seems the laughter flies by and we are left in bittersweet lament
For the time badly spent and then the things we can't prevent
And we mourn the happiness left behind, but soon we all succumb
And now looking back I see that I wouldn't change anything
And as for what the future may yet bring
I see that I can't know
All I know is that I must let go
Of the...
Another spotlight fades in and shines on a group of children playing in Rainbow Valley
Gurgling laughter bubbling up over the hill
And the sounds of joy ringing loud and sounding clear
And the ghosts of rainbows, that haunt and linger still
Of their hopeful dreams and their childish wide eyed fear
Of sleepy green heads and nursery rhymes
As I stand here helplessly and the wind blows passed, the sands of time.
Ooh,ooh,ooh,ooh,oh,oh,ooo
I am left abandoned like, I was abandoned once before
They leave me standing shell-shocked by the open door
And the ghosts of rainbows that haunt and linger still
What will become of them, is around that bend over that hill
It's out of my hands, but not a victimless crime
This ever drifting whirlwind of, the sands of time.
The light dims on the children and then slowly on Anne as well. Then a small spotlight fades in on center stage then blossoms to light up the entire stage, showing the Blythes, the Merediths, Miss Oliver, Joe Milgrave, Miranda Pryor, Mary Vance and Miller Douglas walking towards a dock where a few boats are tied.
(song: "JUST ANOTHER NIGHT AT THE LIGHT", featuring: the youth of Glen St. Mary, plus Kenneth Ford and Miss Oliver)
MEN: humming tune of chorus
Women join in
WOMEN: "la la's" to the tune of chorus
RILLA: This would be lovely if I did not feel so out of place
My heart is race-ing, my mind is pace-ing
And I might be face-ing
A stint as a wallflower, I shouldn't have come
My feet are numb
I shouldn't have come
WOMEN: la la's
MISS OLIVER: If only Robert my love and my dear were here
What am I doing here?
I am too old, my heart is to cold
I've no one to talk to, I'll be so alone
I shouldn't be here
Everyone piles into the boats. Una is left out and Walter gestures for her to come into his boat. They sit across from each other. They all begin rowing and a lighthouse appears in the distance, steadily growing.
UNA: Though the night was chilled right from the start
I've this strange feeling in the pit of my heart
That I was not shivering when we were apart
If only I could be sure his eyes were saying what they are seeming
That I am not only dreaming
That my keen oversize feelings
Would forever be invisible, forever go unseen.
WOMEN: la la's-steadily regaining speed until original tempo is achieved
They all get out of their boats onto a crowded lawn around the lighthouse, where a fiddler is playing along to the tune and couples are dancing or sitting by the water. They all join in, and pair off in their respective couples. Rilla is left alone wandering through the crowd expectantly.
ALL: Whirling, swirling, twirling through life
Oh the joy and the richness and laughter is rife
When you're among friends whose hope and zest is inane
Live and subsist is the only rule of this game
We know and we go with the flow and it goes
And it's bright and it's right and we almost take flight
Just another night at the light
Just another night at the light
Just another night at the light
Just another night at the light
WOMEN: la la's-decrescendo
The fiddler continues to play and Rilla pads up the stone stairs leading to the light grumpily. She sits down in a huff with her chin resting on her hand. Kenneth Ford approaches her and extends his hand, helping her up. She gazes into his eyes and is on her tippy-toes.
KENNETH: Is this Rilla-my-Rilla?
RILLA: Yeth. looks furious with herself
KENNETH: Can we have a dance?
RILLA: Yes!
WOMEN: la la's-crescendo
ALL: Whirling, swirling, twirling through life
Oh the joy and the richness and laughter is rife
When you're among friends whose hope and zest is inane
Live and subsist is the only rule of this game
We know and we go with the flow and it goes
And it's bright and it's right and we almost take flight
Just another night at the light
Just another night at the light
Just another night at the light
Just another night at the-
Everything stops simultaneously, the music, the singing, the dancing; when Jack Elliot rushes in. Everyone stares.
JACK: Britain declared war on Germany. It's all over the news. They are calling for volunteers starting tomorrow.
Slowly the rumble of male voices crescendos, the girls all look around confusedly, except Miss Oliver.
MISS OLIVER: Is this Armageddon?
(song: "THE PIPER PIPES" featuring all the men at the party)
MEN: The piper pipes and we hear his song
Take up your courage and arms boys and follow along
The piper pipes so we'll follow to the ends of the earth
To show our valor, our pluck and prove our worth
JEM: Hurrah for mother Britain, we'll fight for her cause
KENNETH: We'll have some adventures and come home to applause
JERRY: The war will be over in a month or so
MEN: Once we take up our quarrel, with the foe
All the men walk offstage, marching like soldiers. Except Walter, who hangs back in the shadows. The women are left bewildered and alone.
MARY: What a fuss to make about nothing... shakily
FAITH: It will be over before they get a chance to fight. shakily again
RILLA: It can't possibly matter to us in Canada. Can it?
WALTER: Before this war is over, every man, woman and child in Canada will feel it. You will feel it, feel it to your hearts core. You will weep tears of blood over it. The piper has come and he will pipe until every corner of the world has heard his awful and irresistible music. This war is a death grapple, both sides go in to conquer or die. It will be years before the dance of death is over and in those years millions of hearts will break.
Walter shakes his head and looks around confusedly as though the words he spoke had not been his. He too walks off and the girls look around them. Through the silence, distantly we can hear the sound of a piper playing a haunting tune. The tune desists and the light on the lighthouse goes out.
Disclaimer: These characters, their world and the series of events belong to Lucy Maude Montgomery's imagination. Some words are her own because they could not be improved upon. Thank you.